5

Grace couldn't take it anymore. She closed her eyes and screamed – at the top of her voice; with all the power her lungs could muster. Still, she found herself being pulled away relentlessly until she was literally being dragged along with whatever that ghastly creature was.

'Let go!' she screamed again, struggling to free herself. 'LET GO!!!'

'WILL YOU BE QUIET!?' said an exasperated voice that sounded somewhat familiar. 'You're worse than that banshee!'

Grace opened her eyes in surprise and looked up. The one pulling her with him at top speed was not the ghostly woman, but the demon who had summoned her.

'You?!' she exclaimed.

'Yes, me!' said the demon, who sounded rather annoyed. 'What's with you, anyway? You've gone nuts since you've come here!'

'I – that woman – the trees...' said Grace, who was still very much in shock. She looked behind once, but there was no one and nothing to be seen.

The demon chuckled darkly. 'What else do you expect if you go wandering off into Mainland Hell the second you land here? There's a lot of twisted stuff here, and judging by the look on your face and the banshee I just saved you from – you can thank me later – you've had quite enough experience of it for now!'

'Banshee?' said Grace, trembling as she remembered the horrendous shrieks and the terrifying woman. 'Is that what she was? She isn't following us, is she?!'

'No, of course she isn't – hey, you can stop looking back now,' said the demon, patting her shoulder awkwardly, as though he hadn't consoled someone for quite a while. 'She's gone! And look, we're safe now!'

Grace saw, to her delight, the same gate she had come through, and gladly let herself be led through it until they were back where she had set off from earlier and the demon let go of her hand at last.

'Oh! Thank God!' she said, relieved.

'Uh, I think I should get some credit too, you know,' said the demon, crossing his arms and looking at her. 'And an explanation now that we're back in the Gateland! What in the world possessed you to go through that gate in the first place?!'

'I... I had no idea,' said Grace, almost in tears. 'Gateland? Mainland Hell? What is all this?'

'Well, you should have known! Hell isn't just Hell, it's divided into two parts: Mainland Hell and Sheltered Hell,' said the demon. 'And this place we're in right now is the Gateland, which is a neutral strip between the two!'

'What's the difference between them?' said Grace, looking around nervously.

'Mainland Hell is where all the really evil people go, and where the Devil's Assistant reigns supreme. It's filled with those creepy sentient trees and conscious shadows and whatnot—'

'Conscious shadows?' said Grace in alarm, remembering how her shadow had acted earlier. 'Are they dangerous?'

'No, of course not; they're only shadows! They just flip about and stuff! The trees, though, are a different story...'

Grace shuddered. 'What about Sheltered Hell?'

'Sheltered Hell is for people like me, who were just born here and didn't really do anything horrendous enough to get ourselves on the other side. There are some humans here too – the kind that were bad but not that bad. While you're staying here, you have to remember to stay in Sheltered Hell, and never lose your way to the Mainland! You know, it's an okay enough life here, really, and you'll appreciate it more now that you've had a taste of the Mainland!'

'Couldn't you have mentioned all this before?' said Grace reproachfully. 'There's no way I could have figured all that out by myself!'

'Well, I would have explained it to you, but no, you had to go all over the place first like a complete idiot!' said the demon crossly.

'I was just looking around—'

'Looking around? Does this look like a playground to you? Couldn't you have stayed where I left you? Idiot!'

'Well, you never said anything!' said Grace, flaring up. 'You just said "cheerio" and disappeared!'

'It's not like I went away forever! Wasn't it obvious that I was going to come back eventually?'

'Eventually? Dubious word for a person who thinks a lifetime in Hell is just a couple of years! No, I don't trust you anyway! And I wasn't going to hang around there possibly-forever waiting for you to show up and not help!'

The demon's eyes narrowed and the purple in them grew slightly darker before lightening again. 'Okay, that was harsh, but you've got a point. Still, of all the places you could have gone, I don't get how you got all the way to the wrong gate!'

'I just went down that corridor I saw you in last,' said Grace. 'Gosh, it was so long! Then I met a rat who said that when I reached the end, I should take the left gate, not the right one! – I guess he was wrong...'

'Ahhh,' said the demon, his eyes darkening again. 'So it's old Squeaks at it again! You shouldn't have listened to him – but how could you have known that...'

'Why would he mislead me?' said Grace, rather hurt.

'Hear it from him yourself,' said the demon, sprinting across the ground and picking up a small object in a quick and sudden movement.

'Ow! Woah, let gooo—' said a small squeaky voice from the demon's hand, and Grace looked closely in surprise; it was the skinny rat!

'Tell her your sob story now and apologise for your terrible timing,' sighed the demon as he twisted its tail once before setting it down in front of her.

'OW! Look, Miss, I'm sorry, but I didn't have a choice, I had to misguide you,' said the rat woefully. 'It all began fifteen years ago when I was a young lad...'

'Cut it short!' said the demon sternly.

'It's all right,' said Grace, looking at the rat, who was sniffing as he looked up at the sky and looking so pathetic that she didn't really feel cross at him anymore. 'Take your time and tell me what was wrong.'

The rat looked at her, rather touched. 'See?' he said, turning to the demon, 'not everyone is a meanie like you!'

'I'm the reason you're still alive, you thankless little—' started the demon, annoyed, but Grace held up her hand.

'Okay, please, go on and tell us your story,' she said kindly, but the demon cleared his throat.

'Tell her your story! I've heard it a million times!'

'It all began fifteen years ago—' started the rat mournfully.

'Can't you ever at least start with a different line?!' said the demon. 'It's like you've rehearsed the whole thing!'

'Can you please be quiet!' said the rat crossly, and Grace nodded and looked at him seriously.

'Go on,' she said. 'What happened fifteen years ago?'

'Those days,' sighed the rat, 'I was a young one, not a care in the world—'

'Like you've become very responsible now,' muttered the demon.

'And I didn't know which places were okay to grab a bite or chew stuff for kicks, and which ones to avoid—'

'He still doesn't,' interrupted the demon.

'Will you be quiet?!'

'Fine!'

'So, I went one day into this grand place, with the most glorious savouries a rat like me had ever seen, and a delightful silky covering to roll about in and chew, and then...'

The rat stopped and sniffed.

'Then?' prompted Grace gently.

'Then, I felt a most awful pain and found myself being winced between the fingers of the Devil's Assistant himself! As it turns out, I had invaded his mansion, and ruined his dinner and his bedcoverings, and he didn't take kindly to it at all!'

'Oh, well, no wonder, but still,' said the demon, but no one took any notice of him.

'Then he said he would roast me alive for what I had done,' shuddered the rat. 'And I begged him for my life, but he only laughed and threatened me more. At last, though, he said he would spare me if I would promise to serve him for the rest of my years. I agreed at once, of course, but... but...'

'But you regretted it?' asked Grace softly.

'Yes!' said the rat sadly. 'He made me do many things I didn't want to do, including this: misleading new arrivals of Hell into the terrifying Mainland, or luring certain people into the Assistant's mansion. I'm really very sorry, Miss – and I sometimes wonder if maybe I shouldn't have made that deal with him after all and just agreed to die instead...'

'And then food calls him back to the real world where he's very much alive and kicking,' said the demon, tossing the rat a small piece of cheese airily and waving his hand to dismiss him. 'Off you go now!'

The rat jumped happily at the cheese and took it in its teeth. Just as it was about to scurry away, Grace called out to it.

'Wait, Squeaks! – is that really your name? I forgive you and I hold nothing against you! I wish I could do something to free you from the Assistant, but I'm quite stuck here myself, you see...'

The rat nodded, and gave Grace another toothy grin that was almost endearing. 'Squeaks is the name! And thank you – you seem like a kind girl – but it's only wishful thinking... oh well... bye for now!'

'He really has no remorse whatsoever, so don't get too sentimental over him,' said the demon when the rat had gone.

'Well, he wouldn't be the only one!' retorted Grace.

The demon rolled his eyes. 'Stop roasting me and come with me to Sheltered Hell – the right gate, you'll remember, if you please! NOT the left one!'

'It's fine, I've got it now! As if I'd forget it!' said Grace scornfully. 'Let's go!'

'Not so soon!' said a smooth, silky voice behind them, and they both turned around.

In front of them was a tall, lean man – no, a demon – the long red horns on either side of his head instantly gave him away; his hair was longish and pitch-black, and his features were angled and sharp. His eyes glowed red like burning embers, and his overall appearance was at once terrifying but also surprisingly beautiful.

'Oh, Hell!' said the demon, looking more upset than he had in the entire short time Grace had known him. 'Bother! It's the Devil's Assistant!'